


Pride, Resolution, and the Future We'll Have

by Infiniteleft



Category: Love Live! School Idol Festival (Video Game), Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Future Fic, Gen, Growing Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:48:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29977617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Infiniteleft/pseuds/Infiniteleft
Summary: Ruby takes stock of where she is now, and how she got there. It takes some nudging to get her to talk about it, though.
Relationships: Kurosawa Dia & Kurosawa Ruby
Kudos: 9
Collections: Idol Fanfic Heaven's Wake Up Challenger Event 2021





	Pride, Resolution, and the Future We'll Have

“Relax, you’ll do fine.” Dia gave her one last glance over, tugging on her jacket sleeves. Satisfied, she spun her around to the mirror. In their reflection, Ruby noticed Dia’s hands twitched. Was her sister more nervous than she? Judging from how she was still fussing, the answer had to be yes.

She bit her lip to keep from smiling. “Yeah…”

It had been a long road getting here. Wasn’t it yesterday that she was admitting to You that she didn’t know what to do with herself? As stifling as they might have been, Ruby felt a little envious at the plans already laid out for her sister. So long as she did her work well, there was little worry to be had, at least on the surface. She knew it wasn’t that simple. Dia’s radio silence during college spoke volumes, even if she’d yet to tell her about it.

Little blessings came in the form of Yohane. For all her lamenting about being cursed, all her self-recriminations, all her doubts, her friend knew how to get other people thinking. And, if Dia’s sudden change in majors was anything to go by, she knew how to set them straight, too. Unfortunately, such things did nothing for the whole smothering dilemma. “Sis,” Ruby finally whined as her pigtails were fluffed for the umpteenth time, “I’m not a kid anymore, I can do it!”

That got her to stop, and she heard her sister sigh. Looking in the mirror, she could see Dia’s eyes were closed, a fond (if melancholic) smile on her face. It reminded her of their mother. “Of course you can,” she said, voice wavering, “you’ve come this far, haven’t you?”

“Right!” Smoothing down her skirt, she turned back to Dia. “We’re going to be late. It’s -- it’ll be a bad impression if we don't show up on time! Or early!”

* * *

Ruby knew what they were going to look like, but she felt her breath fall away as she watched her work be presented. Months and months of work, of hand sewing on every last detail… it had come to fruition. It wasn’t the first time seeing her clothes up on a stage, and maybe that was why she felt a little more teary than she should’ve.

They were all still friends, of course, but she found with adult responsibilities came a lot less time than she was used to having. Phonecalls were short, carefully planned so they would fit into a schedule. Messaging was easier, so none of them were really out of the loop, but Ruby still missed seeing everyone. She missed working together with them to make a new song, new choreography and events.

She missed the easy chats she had with You while working on costumes with her. Of how she’d grin wickedly and beckon Ruby over, so many fun ideas for outfits that more often than not earned her rebuking from Dia. _Even now she’s a conservative dresser,_ Ruby noted with a sideways glance.

What she missed the most was having those steady, levelheaded talks with her, the ones where they talked about everything they couldn’t say to anyone else. You was only thirty minutes away, but she didn’t see her much. Even as she watched the results of her triumph, they felt a little hollow without her friends with her.

At least she still had Dia.

* * *

“Okay,” Dia sighed once they were home, “what’s bothering you?”

She should’ve known that her sister would see through her. Years might’ve passed, but she was as sharp as ever. It wouldn’t take a detective to notice the raincloud over her head, anyway. Still, she picked at the skin on her fingers, muttering a non-answer.

Her sister leaned forward, and she noticed the wear on Dia’s face. While she looked a hell of a lot more at peace than she did before, she also looked so much older in person than she did in Ruby’s mind, but there was comfort in seeing her seriousness remaining the same. “Ruby. What’s wrong? Are you having second thoughts…?”

“No! No, not that! I…” Ruby looked down, wondering what happened to her joy from earlier. “I miss working with You,” she relented, deciding honesty was the better option. “And -- and seeing everyone else. I don’t get to talk to them a lot anymore…”

Dia’s expression softened. She reached out to Ruby, catching her hand and stilling her fingers. “I understand. A text message isn’t the same as having them with you. You can’t have a conversation like that while working… having their input in person is more personal than waiting for hours, hm?”

Close, but not entirely it. She nods anyway.

* * *

When Ruby woke up the next morning, her sister had already left for her flight. However, there was a note on the fridge, and a sheet of paper folded up under it. Dia’s neat handwriting detailed her understanding of Ruby’s loneliness, so she had taken it upon herself to catch a ticket for her little sis. …courtesy of Mari, the note reads.

She knows who she wants to visit first.

* * *

The first thing Ruby noticed when she entered the hotel was “Wow, it’s still really pretty…” The second thing she noticed once she entered the hotel was that the decor looked different enough to be jarring. The third thing she noticed was that at least the elevators were still the same. With an awkward shuffle, she hit the button and let it run. Her sister knew exactly who to send her to, even after all this time.


End file.
